It is known in the field of automotive technology that when vehicles are involved in a frontal or side-frontal impact, a vehicle driver frequently suffers injuries to his foot and/or to his legs. By way of example, a combined movement of a rotation of the foot and a supporting movement during an impact may cause foot fractures. Moreover, injuries are known that are caused by pedals in a vehicle acting upon feet of the vehicle driver.
It is proposed in many variations to use inflatable airbags that are arranged in particular in a foot space and inflated in an event of an impact.
By way of example U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,281 B1 describes a device that, in the event of the foot space becoming deformed as a result of an impact, reduces a risk of injury to a foot and leg region of a person who is sitting on a seat that is arranged inside a vehicle. The foot space is cladded with a floor covering that is made from an acoustic-damping layer and a carpet lying on top of said layer. The device comprises a foot cushion that is allocated to the foot space. In response to a trigger signal, at least one gas generator that is allocated to the foot cushion introduces gas suddenly into the foot cushion, wherein the foot cushion fills the relevant foot space temporarily with predetermined dimensions prior to a firewall penetrating a vehicle interior compartment. The foot cushion is formed between the acoustic-damping layer and the carpet of the floor covering, wherein gas from the gas generator is introduced into a space between the acoustic-damping layer and the carpet, and the carpet is only fixed in regions to the acoustic-damping layer in a region of the foot cushion that is to be formed.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,867 B2 discloses an inflatable protection system for use in a vehicle so as to protect lower extremities of a vehicle occupant. The protective system comprises an expandable casing that is adapted for mounting over a floor surface of a transport vehicle below a foot of a vehicle occupant. If a triggering event, for example a deceleration that exceeds a specific level, occurs during operation of the vehicle, an inflating device releases airbag inflation gas for introduction into the inflatable casing. The casing is able to expand outwards from a floor area, which lies below the casing, and generally in a direction of the foot of the occupant so as to engage with the foot during a sudden deceleration event, as a result of which an extended supporting contact is created for the foot during the sudden deceleration event.
US 2015/0274114 A1 discloses an airbag device in a vehicle for reliably preventing injury to legs of a seated person as a result of an axial loading caused by a forward and rearward shunt of the vehicle at a point in time of a vehicle impact.
The airbag device comprises an airbag body that inflates and unfolds between a foot of a seated person and a base plate. At the point in time of a impact, the inflating device is activated when a signal is received from an acceleration sensor, and as a result of this activation an airbag body is inflated and unfolded. The airbag body comprises a rear inflation section that may be inflated from a heel of a seated person rearward and upward higher than a floor area of a foot in an inflating and unfolding form of the airbag body, and said airbag body also comprises a front inflation section that may be inflated from a toe of the seated person forward and upward higher than a lower face of the foot in the inflating and unfolding form of the airbag body.
US 2016/0016527 A1 further describes an inflatable heel blocker that is provided so as to protect feet, heels and lower legs of a driver of a motor vehicle in an event of an impact. A heel blocker comprises an inflatable membrane having a first section that is fastened to a planar floor panel adjacent to a firewall and under vehicle pedals. In an event of an impact, the inflatable membrane unfolds in one region that is defined by a floor of the vehicle pedals, the firewall and the floor panel. It is important that during the unfolding procedure a rearmost and lowermost part of the membrane is secured to the floor panel, as a result of which an efficacy of the device is maximized.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,217 B2 proposes a leg-protecting device for protecting legs of a vehicle occupant prior to an impact, said leg-protecting device having a vehicle component that is located in front of the vehicle occupant. The leg-protecting device comprises an airbag that is installed within the vehicle component, and a gas generator for generating gas so as to inflate the airbag. The airbag comprises a first chamber having a first gas inlet, and a second chamber having a second gas inlet. The airbag expands along the vehicle component, in particular in parallel with the legs of the vehicle occupant, if the airbag is inflated as a result of the gas generator being activated in the event of an impact. The first chamber and the second chamber are connected in such a manner that the gas that is generated by the gas generator initially passes through the first chamber and subsequently flows into the second chamber.
US 2010/0251883 A1 describes a safety device for providing protection against an explosion, in particular for use in an armored vehicle. The safety device is provided as a floor mat that is configured so as to be used under normal conditions as a floor mat and is used as an energy-absorbing safety device for providing protection against an explosion that may exert a certain pressure force on said safety device. The floor mat consists of a perforated material layer of foam and/or gel or soft rubber.
Even though known safety and protection devices fulfill their function, the field of protection devices that protect feet and/or legs of vehicle occupants as disclosed in the described prior art still requires improvements with respect to a simplified structural construction and protective function, since airbags that are inflated in an event of an impact may form a suddenly occurring, mechanical counteracting force that expands in a direction of the feet of the vehicle occupant.